With elections around the corner in Karnataka, conversations on 'gau raksha' has once again resurfaced with both BJP and Congress leaders advocating for a ban on cow slaughter.

BJP’s KS Eshwarappa, Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council said that prohibition of cow slaughter will be the first decision taken if the BJP comes to power in the state+.

He was addressing a public rally during the Karnataka Suraksha Yatra in Udupi on Monday.  He added that it was not an election promise. “Cow is our mother and we will not tolerate her slaughter,” he added.

The BJP leader’s call to prohibit cow slaughter found support from Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who reiterated Eshwarappa’s stance and called for a ban on all kinds of animal slaughter. The Congress Minister, however, put the onus on banning slaughterhouses on the BJP at the Centre.

“None of us have the right to kill animals, which are the creation of god. All of us worship cows and it should not be slaughtered. Personally, I object to the killing of any animals. Let BJP leaders put pressure on the Central government to ban all slaughterhouses and ban export of beef. A large number of beef export units are functioning in Uttar Pradesh. Let them ban those units,” he said to Times of India.

The ruling Congress and the opposition BJP have in the past faced off over cow protection politics. The previous BJP government had made the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1964 more stringent by prohibiting the slaughter of cows, calf of a cow and bull, bullock, buffalo male or female and calf of she-buffalo, unless a competent authority granted permission to slaughter after the animal has attained the age of 15.

In 2013, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government reversed the bill passed by the BJP and brought it back to the original 1964 form.

The 1964 Act restricted the slaughter of cows, calves and she-buffaloes but if bulls, bullocks and buffaloes were over 12 and unfit to produce milk, they could be slaughtered.